Template talk:Main

Development

This template has a development branch at Template:Main/dev. This can be used for change proposals.

Make your headings blue

I'm not sure of all the uses this template has undergone, so I won't deprecate it completely, but in the simple case a better way is, and I've been doing it since I found someone write a synonym for Magnetoencephalography. Make the headings into a link. Make them underlined (and blue). Brewhaha@edmc.net 09:27, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

The manual of style deprecates links in section headings: see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings)#Linking.

I have seen one or two editors questioning this in discussions, e.g. Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (headings)/Archive 1#Links within headers, but the consensus for now seems to be to keep links out of headings.

If you think this is a bad idea, then by all means lobby to get this convention changed, but until a change is agreed, it's important to stick to an agreed style. This provides a consistent way of looking for linked content, and consequently for easier reading.

I personally think the existing convention is the right one: it looks and works better to have the links in a main tag underneath the section heading. But if broad consensus is reached for a change to the manual of style, I'll switch too. Thanks, Clicketyclack 10:59, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

I find that some of my changes to MAKE headings blue or underlined finds pages that the authors of the page I'm on weren't aware of. Sometimes it is a single word in the heading. Sometimes it is a synonym for the heading. And you know what? I find the current convention to be ugly. For that matter, citations for web pages are a royal pain in the darkness, when you can see whether the source is reputable from the name of their web site, and when lynx does a neat job of formatting those URLS so that they look like endnotes. In my arrogant opinion, wikimedia has no business off the internet, and that's what I think this rule is really about: making links visible off the net. Brewhaha@edmc.net#REDIRECT www.google.com

What are the images?

There are 2 sample images at the top of the article. What are they doing there? Am I missing something? At first I thought I'd come to the wrong page because I couldn't figure out what those images had to do with the main article template.--Subversive Sound (talk) 05:21, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

OK, I removed the gallery tag that contained the sample images and sample captions. I don't know how they got in there, but I'm 99% sure they didn't belong. If for some unfathomable reason they were necessary, then I apologize, and you can revert my edit to Template:Main/doc.--Subversive Sound (talk) 05:27, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

What's the point?

Why not just write :''Main article: [[article name]]''? This template seems to be totally useless and overcomplicated. /Grillo 14:05, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

The point is that using this template allows Wikipedia as a whole to maintain conventions for how such links are worded and styled in one template. If you use the raw wikitext, every single article that uses this style needs to be updated. Mike Dillon 21:39, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Look at the template code, it's more than merely ":''Main article: [[article name]]''". Among things, the template won't normally print. Circeus 14:01, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Printing

Should a noprint class be applied to this template? It would make it truely pertinent then to use it instead of formatted text (noprinting is a reason to favor hatnotes over formatted text). besides, knowing there is a subarticle is useless on a printed form. Also, very few subarticles actually USE the template at the top. A link is usually present within the first few lines anyway, so maybe the use guideline should be rewrote to take that into account.

Edits needed July,09,2006

1. Someone should add this (and the See Also's to Category:List templates
2. Add {{MainBold}} to See also list as well as Template:Mainlist.

regards, // FrankB 18:40, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

done. Circeus 21:36, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

interwikilinks

Updated interwikilinks of other wikis, but this is semi-protected and therefor still needs updating. And no, I won't ever create an account if anonymous editing in general is possible, b/c it's a good idea in general :) 129.35.204.162 06:12, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Please correct sl: to sl:Predloga:Glavni. Thanks. --Eleassar ^{my talk} 12:49, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Done. --Robdurbar 17:51, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

SubArticle template

Would someone please add Template:SubArticle to the see also section. --Ephilei 00:57, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Now there are photos available of this particular specimen. The photos were published by Eduardo Ecchenique, New York Times.

Last Change Breaks Template - Please Revert

See Wikipedia:About#Making the best use of Wikipedia for 2 examples on one screen. --Quiddity·(talk) 02:19, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Italics

The article's name should not be in italics. It looks unprofessional. ☆ CieloEstrellado 04:01, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

"Comparison with related templates"

I've removed that section from the "Documentation", as I couldn't make heads or tails of it (are the first and third bullets talking about the same thing?). The difference between this and Template:Details certainly needs to be illustrated, especially as Wikipedia:Summary style seems to treat them as synonymous. --zenohockey 21:49, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I believe this is because {{Main}} was originally created to link back to the main article from a subtopic, while {{Details}} was meant to go the other way. In practice, editors use both {{Main}} and {{Details}} to link to the subtopic articles from the main topic; which one they use seems to be determined by which wording they prefer. Personally, I think that using {{details}} to link to sub-topics and {{Main}} to link back makes more sense, but I don't expect usage to change. Mike Dillon 21:44, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

This was it:

The following two are meant to be used in connection with each other:

• At the top of a brief section concerning a subject that has a more detailed article (this is the only form specified by the Wikipedia Manual of Style);
• or at the top of the specialized article, to refer to the more general article: Template:main (talk, backlinks, edit):

Main article: Main

• at the top or bottom of a section of the more general article, to refer to the specialized article: Template:Details (talk, backlinks, edit):

For more details on this topic, see [[{{{1}}}]].

What do the three braces mean? -lysdexia 23:28, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

They indicate variables. The text in {{main|THE VARIABLE}} is placed there. The pipe in variables ({{{1|text}}})serves to give default text if the variable is not defined. Circeus 00:56, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Unquote

Note: The {{main}} template lacks two ending apostrophes before </div>.

Wikiborg 06:37, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Some explanation

I have two "main articles" one general, another specific. I would like to say at the top:

Main article: general - generalities

Main article: specific - specifics

but if I add text after the template, the comments (e.g. "generalities") winds up on the line below. Is there a way to do this, or could the template be accomodated to include an optional modifying phrase just after the main article title that would display on the same line? PAR 20:16, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

incorrect use?

It seems that most people are using this template incorrectly, and should be using the "details" template instead. (the further template is inconsistent, and doesn't add the [[ ]] around the paramenter.).

Should this be fixed? Is using "main" instead of "details" appropriate? Am I just being too picky?

-- TomXP411^[Talk] 00:54, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

This seems to be one of the most misused templates out there. It's intended usage is when a section is a summary of a longer article. It's not meant as a "see also" or similar but that's often how it gets used. --kingboyk (talk) 15:18, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Can

Can we change this template so it can have infinite arguments?100110100 07:51, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Request to add an interwiki link

Please add the following interlanguage link: [[bg:Шаблон:Основна]] --Daggerstab 08:33, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Y Done - Harryboyles 11:38, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

inter language links

There appear to be many, but why do they not show up when viewing the wiki source? I want to copy them over to the template at the Wikimedia Commons. --Pmsyyz 22:33, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Because of template documentation. You have to look here.Circeus 22:43, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Use of pipe in Template:Main

How do I use have the text appear differently in the template than what the link is? For example, I want what I would normally type as [[Persian language#Nomenclature|Persian language]], however within the main template it's not formating it correctly. I've tried with and without brackets – doesn't work correctly either way. Thanks. –jonsafari 21:21, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

How about: {{main|Persian language#Nomenclature|l1=Nomenclature section of Persian language}}

Main article: Nomenclature section of Persian language

(John User:Jwy talk) 19:57, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Works like a charm. Thanks! –jonsafari 22:21, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I think that the documentation should discourage the use of this "link appearance" feature anywhere but for #-containing targets where "link appearance" text is unsuitable for making it a redirect ("Nomenclature section of Persian language" is a good example of). Such use as [1] may confuse future editors and cause them to choose an incorrect target for a link, say, via copying and pasting (possibly into another article) the visible text of such "Main article" note. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 20:02, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Indent with left aligned images

I've noticed this template (and possibly all templates) have an issue with indentation on lines with an image on the left. That is, the link is no farther indented than the rest of the text (example). I have a pretty good idea of why this is, but none on how to fix it. Is this a known and accepted technical issue already? Vicarious 02:53, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Request

G'day! At Brain tumour under the heading primary tumors, the template leaves a too many parameters error. Looking at the markup I have noticed that the number of links included is 11, whereas the template allows for 10. Could a further one be included so as to remedy the situation? There could be more cases like this, albeit this is probably very rare. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 18:39, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

{{editprotected}}

As above. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 06:19, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

The section in question seems to look fine as is - I'm not sure it's worthwhile having a very long list of main articles like that, particularly in the case you mention, where it is easy and probably more effective to integrate the list into prose. 10 articles seems as good an arbitrary cutoff point as any. Is there another reason to increase the parameter load capacity of this template? Nihiltres^(t.l) 02:15, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

I tend to agree with Nihiltres that once a certain number is crossed (less than 10) it's better to just use text. — Carl (CBM · talk) 00:50, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

Okay, concur. Nihiltres, there is none. In withdrawing my request, should I remove the template from this section? --Ouro (blah blah) 09:10, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

It seems odd for there to be many "Main" articles for a single section; often the wikilinks within a section serve to point to numerous detail pages. However, another way to handle "too many" entries is simply to use the Main template twice, perhaps with 6 and 5 parameters in this case. It might get changed when a better technology appears. (SEWilco 04:15, 15 July 2007 (UTC))

Associated main article

I would like to recommend that this template be copied to allow for the inclusion of "Associated main 'article' as opposed to just main article which implies that the referenced article has a higher status which is often not the case. UkraineToday 08:22, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Template:Summary in

Could someone please add 'instead, Template:Summary in can be placed at the top of the talk page' after the instructions not to add this template to the top of the main page. Richard001 07:12, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Adding a CSS class

If nobody objects in the next few hours, I will add a CSS class to the div, making it <div class="noprint mainarticle">. This will enable styling of this particular element, and increase machine-readability. — David Remahl (talk) 00:58, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Problem on PDAs

There is a problem with this template when used in articles, in so far as viewing on a PDA or similar device: the template is not seen. Other, similar templates, such as {{further}} and {{see also}} work fine though. I don't know how to fix it, so hopefully someone who does, will. -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 22:54, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

• If I had to guess I'd say it's because of the addition mentioned in the section above this, adding <div class="noprint mainarticle">. Vicarious 21:14, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Problems with the use and description of this template

I often see this used incorrectly. Basically, the section in question should be a summary, or something very close to one, of the target article. If it only discusses certain aspects of that article, {{details}} or {{further}} should be used instead (and I think we should merge them as they seem to have the same function). Here in the documentation it suggests this should only be used for articles that have been split off, but many articles are 'daughter articles' without ever having been split off from their 'parent'. In fact, some parents may be created after the daughter article is already in existence. For example, I created religion in New Zealand late last year, but its 'daughters', including say Christianity in New Zealand, were already in existence.

Another issue, which is why I came here, is that it is often used without providing any summary at all. There is a heading, then simply a 'main article' template, and that's it. Should it be used like this? Personally I think it's wrong to say 'main article' when we aren't providing even a small summary of the article; it seems misleading and it is almost never appropriate not to provide a summary. Richard001 (talk) 06:56, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm also surprised by the description of this template: Wikipedia does not have subarticles. That is why the subpage feature is disabled in the article namespace. All articles should satisfy WP:N: they are not part of other articles. "Main" is a mechanism by which parts of one article can be written in summary style because they are covered in more detail in other articles. It is there to guide the reader to more information if the reader is interested, and it should not be used as a substitute for providing summary information in the article itself. I've commented further on this at {{SubArticle}}. Geometry guy 15:14, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

The description is very bad. Wikipedia does have subarticles, but it depends what you mean by a subarticle. We need some 'official' terminology here to avoid confusion. In any case I stand by what I said above and hope to hear some comments. I might suggest an alternative description in future. Richard001 (talk) 07:27, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

I have rewritten the lead section of the doc. Hope that is useful. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 20:01, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Parser function

Is there a non-parser function version of this template? TJ Spyke 17:31, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Usage of this template: Should {{main}} be used within a subsection of another section using {{main}} as well?

Take a look at renewable resource for an example of this. If we use {{main}} to link to an article, should we be repeating it again in subsections of that very section? For example in this case should we be linking to solar power as a main article when we have already linked to the renewable energy article as a broader main article (which itself will in turn surely link to these articles again using summary style)?

Just in case it's not clear, here's what I mean:

Topic

Main article: Topic

Subtopic

Main article: Subtopic

^ Should we be using this here?

Richard001 (talk) 07:24, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

What is cock

{{editprotected}} Can someone please edit the page so it doesn't say "When [[Wikipedia:What is cock" at the top. Thanks, Jonathan Oldenbuck (talk) 11:51, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

That was on Template:main/doc, you could have fixed it on your own. Those doc subpages aren't visible on any articles, so they don't need to be protected. — Carl (CBM · talk) 12:54, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

OK, didn't realise. Thanks, Jonathan Oldenbuck (talk) 14:34, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Please add interwiki da: Skabelon:Hovedartikel

Thanks. User:Nillerdk (talk) 11:00, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

You can add it without assistance; it goes at the appropriate place in Template:Main/doc. — Carl (CBM · talk) 13:21, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Switch from main article

I was just thinking that maybe "Main article" should be switched to the more neutral "Main page" as not all the pages this template is used for are articles. But then again it may get confused with Main Page. Simply south (talk) 18:24, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Could you provide an example of this? I imagine you're talking about lists and other things I can't think of right now. I don't think it needs to be changed; article is the broader sense includes lists etc. Richard001 (talk) 22:00, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Some Wikipedia pages e.g. Wikipedia:WikiProject Buckinghamshire. Simply south (talk) 22:05, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh, I see, that's quite different from what I was thinking. A 'main page' option might be desirable then. Perhaps just a modification to this template that allows you to use 'page' instead of 'article' somehow if you want to? Or a new template that does the same thing? Richard001 (talk) 22:24, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Grammar Mistake

{{EditProtected}} The opening should read: "A Wikipedia Article" or "Wikipedia Articles" (without the A). Dannyza1981 (talk) 12:34, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

?? Don't understand what you mean. Where's this text you're referring to? – Luna Santin (talk) 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

N Not done Wikipedia:Avoid self-references Happy‑melon 19:37, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

What Danny meant was the this, which I now realize was from the documentation, so didn't require any admin help. Richard001 (talk) 23:09, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Bug with categories

See Evolutionary_biology#Notable_evolutionary_biologists. If one tries to link to a category without a preceding colon, the article gets put in the category and the field is left blank. --⟳ausa کui ^× 23:45, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

I don't think we should really be doing this. Firstly, categories aren't articles (though they are pages; see the section before last), and secondly I think a list would be a much better target. You could use {{further}} I guess. Richard001 (talk) 09:32, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Tag abuse

This template currently produces HTML markup like this:

<dl>
 <dd>
   <div class="noprint relarticle mainarticle">...</div>
 </dd>
</dl>

According to the markup, this is a "definition list" (the dl element) with a "definition" inside it (the dd element). The definition term (dt) is missing. The purpose of this markup, I believe, is to indent the text inside the div element. CSS provides a better way to do this. For example, this code will indent the div element without the need for dl/dd elements around it:

.mainarticle { margin: 1em }

By using CSS instead of HTML, fewer and more semantic tags are produced. I therefore propose to remove the initial ':' of this template and replace it with a simple CSS rule.

Howcome (talk) 18:32, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

This has been done by now. Thanks, Håkon. —Ms2ger (talk) 18:41, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Does this template need better wording?

"It should not be used at the top of an article to link to its parent topic". Main article is ambiguous and I can see why people continue to make this mistake. It is not illogical to think that the parent article would be the "main" article. I propose that the wording of the template be changed. How about Subtopic or Further detail? --Jameboy (talk) 16:04, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Red links

I've noticed that some editors use this template for linking to pages that don't exist. Given that this template is intended to provide useful links, I think it would be a good idea if it only linked to existing pages. I'm pretty sure this could be done with wikicode. Blue-Haired Lawyer 12:16, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Pointer to Template:Summary in

We're missing, placing {{Template:Summary in}} in the talk page of linked to article, do we need it - there's also a Template:Summarize for when subarticle is pointed to but no specific summary, but I don't get that one ! L∴V 13:36, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Italics Mark Deux - Standardize with rendered syntax of {{otheruses}}

I'm not sure if there's some CSS nicety that's missed in IE6 (don't ask - I have no control over my situation at work), but I don't see any in-page difference in the text that differentiates Main and Seealso instances from the article text. If the problem is present in other browsers, may I ask: Why aren't these templates coded in a way that italicizes and offsets like {{Otheruses}}? If not, may I ask why we don't just borrow that syntax for standardization and simplification's sake? MrZaius^talk 10:09, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

noprint

{{editprotected}} I don't think it is correct to add a "noprint" class. It is useful to see the reference to the main article, even in print, especially when a {{main}} is the only thing in a section (see Commonwealth of Nations#Commonwealth_War_Graves_Commission, for example). Please just remove the "noprint" class from this template. TIA. —Ms2ger (talk) 18:45, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Done. —David Levy 19:04, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Not Enough Parameters

{{editprotected}}

Please add more syntax so we can have more than just 10 main articles.174.3.111.148 (talk) 03:12, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Please read the instructions before requesting edits :P If you give a complete and specific description of the code changes you want to implement, perhaps an edit can be made.  Skomorokh, barbarian  05:10, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Italics

What happened to the italics? It's impossible to tell these apart from the article text now. I know this was a result of converting to rellink, but it needs the italics.

Primate^#101 21:16, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Please remove spam

This template contains the spam "www.shawsounds.com". It is protected so I cannot remove the spam. David spector (talk) 02:14, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Backlinks

In addition to 'See also' and 'external links', I would very much like for articles to be able to have a section called 'backlinks' (or something more appropriate). It would list all articles that link to the given page using Template:main. With that in mind would it be possible to modify this template so that {{main|article A}} automatically adds a link to the hidden category [[category:pages that link to article A using Template:main]]? The editor of article A could easily create a 'backlinks' section simply be going to the resulting category page and copying the links. Lemmiwinks2 (talk) 02:52, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Copying this template to another wiki for use...

I want to copy this template's source for use in another wiki. However, this template in turn uses many other templates, far too many sources to copy in turn. Which of those templates do I need to use on another wiki to make it work? I need to be able to create a link under a section in an article linking to the main article more detailed than the section in former article could provide. Thanks. --Legion (talk) 10:40, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Possible bug

When I tried using the format

{{main
|Article
}}

in an article, I saw garbage in the preview.

When I changed it to

{{Main|Article}}

It worked. The main article section I edited was this one. David Spector 18:55, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Proposed change (namespace detection)

Resolved: Namespace detection for categories added - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 16:03, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi there, following Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/EarwigBot 11, I've created a modified version of this template at Template:Main/sandbox, which will change the template to say "The main article for this category is" when used on a category page. Unless there's any opposition to this change, I'll add this to Template:Main. Cheers, - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 13:05, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

I'd like to add here, expressing my support for this proposal. It avoids a large number of edits that aren't really necessary (replacing {{main}} with {{catmore}} in the category space). The only way I can view this proposal in a negative way is if I think about the purpose of these templates. {{main}} is almost always used in an article to link to other articles that relate, but give more details about a specific thing. On the other hand, {{catmore}} is used in a category to link to its focus. They seem pretty different in principal, but in execution, they're the same, so I support this. — The Earwig ^(talk) 21:19, 17 March 2010 (UTC)a

Y Done See here. If namespace = Category, {{Catmore}} is used. Tim1357 (talk) 23:16, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Now a kind-hearted admin needs to update the main page. Feel free to test the template. Tim1357 (talk) 23:17, 18 March 2010 (UTC) Nevermind, I fail at reading. Tim1357 (talk) 23:19, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Y Done - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 16:03, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Bad text formatting

The template's "l1" syntax appears to be "11" due to letterform similarity, which has led me to believe that special-title links are just not supported. A note needs to be included on this. ᛭ LokiClock (talk) 04:27, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Use refering to section of another page

At Concorde#Popular culture, this template is in use to refer to just a tiny section of another very long page. That "Main" page does not actually deal with just the issue referred, but is a page about a subject in its own right. I question whether there is a better template. The other referral templates I have found are for use when there is other information in the section and involve the word "also": the section in question has no other content.

I am going to delete the section that uses only the template and move the reference to the other See alsos, but any comments in case this doesn't stick, or comes up again? Trev M  ~  20:26, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Number of inclusions

{{editprotected}} Not hugely important, but the number of inclusions at the top of the page is outdated. The current figure is 112k. As it is, 90k seems oddly specific. Could we update the number to "over 100,000" instead of 110k, and leave it at that? Thanks Jess_talk|_edits 01:58, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Nevermind. I see the template doc wasn't protected, so I updated it myself. Thanks. Jess_talk|_edits 02:03, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Editprotected/suggestion

Add this code at the end, it marks non-existing pages.
{{#ifexist:{{{1}}}|| (doesn't exist)}}
I know that the link is already red, just a tip for new users. SWFlash 19:16, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Editprotected request involving this template

This message is to inform people monitoring this talk page that there is an "editprotected" request involving this and several other templates at Template talk:! cymru.lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:28, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Disambiguation

I think the template should point to Main Page and not Main — Preceding unsigned comment added by Schalice (talk • contribs) 17:19, 11 February 2012 (UTC)